Thursday, January 26, 2012

If you read my story this week on Charlotte's Paula Broadwell, counterterrorism expert and author of "All In: the Education of General David Petraeus," you know this Dilworth mom is a tough competitor. After all, she graduated in the top of her West Point class in physical fitness.

Now she can boast another accomplishment. On Wednesday night, when she appeared on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," the two competed in an off-air push-up contest. And she killed.

Broadwell took her heels off, did 60 push-ups and looked liked she could keep going indefinitely. Stewart did 38 push-ups and looked like he was about to die. He donated $20,000 to an organization for veterans that Broadwell is also supporting. (Broadwell's husband, Dr. Scott Broadwell, also got into the act.)

And what did Stewart say about the book? Well, he noted it it was a flattering portrait of Petraeus: "I mean the most controversial thing.. is is he awesome, or incredibly awesome?"

I am happy for the troops and the extra $20000 John Stewart donated but... real push-ups touch the chest to the ground and lock the arms out at the top. She was doing 1/2 push-ups and I would bet she couldn't do even 40 real ones not the 100 that she brags about

Yeah I have to agree with Anon 9:50, there was a lot of cheating going on with everybody in this pushup contest. The author does look very strong and fit, and I'd love to see her do 100 full pushups, as that's a difficult feat. But most of the pushups here were so shallow they should have been called something else. Kinda reminds me of the cocky teens in my gym who load up a bar with 300+ pounds and proceed to do 1/4 squats, when a competition legal-depth squat of 200 pounds would flatten them.

When I was in 6th grade there was a kid who was genetically pre-disposed to be able to do push-ups non-stop without getting tired. He set the school record with 10,000, yes, 10 thousand push-ups, and it was agreed ahead of time that he would stop at 10,000.

This was Haverstraw Elementary School in 1966 and his name was David Daniels, in case you think I'm just blowing smoke.

I remember David Daniels, wasn't that the kid that had two hearts? The extra blood pumper enabled his blood to be superflushed with oxygen at all times providing uncanny strength to his muscle tissue. Kinda like the great race horse Secretariat with his much larger than normal heart.

I never heard anything about him having two hearts. I seriously doubt the school would have let him compete in strenuous sports if he had such an oddity as two hearts. Did you live in Rockland County in the 60's, or maybe you're thinking of another David Daniels. It's kind of a common name.

I know there are a few cases of dual-hearted individuals in the past, I am not sure I have heard of this Daniels guy. I know one man, named Lippert, had two hearts.

A colleague of mine did some studies on this a few years ago and it was most fascinating. During WW2, the Germans did some rather bizarre "experiments" on this(among many other things) and the results are still largely unknown since it was destroyed or hidden.

Should we toy with the idea of organ expansion or duality to make super humans? I don't know, but we now have the technology and it could happen someday.

Share It

Dannye Romine Powell

Dannye Romine Powell

About this blog

Dannye Romine Powell has published three collections of poetry (University of Arkansas Press), and a non-fiction book, "Parting the Curtains: Interviews with Southern Writers" (John Blair). Over her years at the Observer, she's served as book review editor, feature writer, restaurant critic and local news columnist. Count on her for news of Carolinas authors and write her at dpowell@charlotteobserver.com.